The One With A Happy Beginning
by ankita.banerji88
Summary: Rachel got off the plane to Paris and came back to Ross. Will Ross ask her to marry him? Will Rachel be game for it this time?


**The One With A Happy Beginning**

1.

They were supposed to meet at 10 AM in the coffee house, but Rachel and Ross didn't come until Monica checked in the last item into the moving van and explained to Chandler why it's not a good idea to put name tags on the twins.

"But they are just like puppies! They poop, eat, cry and sleep. You can't tell who is doing what", Chandler said in his last attempt to convince Monica. "See its practical. Instead of peeking into their diapers every time Gunther asks which one is who, I say, we tie name tags on them. It's convenient!"

"Except I would have dogs if I wanted convenience", Monica said putting the babies in a stroller by their coffee table. Her Vanilla Cappuccino was getting cold. "Where is Phoebe?", she asked adjusting on the one seater sofa.

"Oh, she is planning a special farewell surprise for you guys", said Joey coming over to their table with one Cold Coffee for Chandler and one Extra Cheese Meatball Sub for him. The Bings were sleep deprived for two nights in a row and what Phoebe could think of as their farewell surprise was the last thing they could attempt to find out.

"She could arrange a stripper party for the twins for all I could imagine", said Chandler. "And it wouldn't be inappropriate at all. You see our babies are now the youngest members of American entertainment culture. I think it will be good for them to see a stripper doing such intense hard work of pouring hot chocolate into her pantyhose."

"See Chandler, it's only been 33 hours since we have became parents. Don't you think it's too early to make lewd baby jokes?", Monica said throwing her hands and volume at wit's end.

As Joey was about to come out in support of Chandler for the stripper party idea, Ross and Rachel came in. They had spent the last night, you know doing what, and now they are an hour late to see Monica and Chandler off to their new house in the suburb.

"Guys we are so sorry for being late. But in my defence, I think my clock is now set to Paris time, even though I didn't actually take the flight last night. So I may not be late here, I'm just acting French", said Rachel sitting down beside Chandler on the sofa.

"Talking about French, how was the 'getting back together', you know what", asked Joey with ketchup stained smile to Ross. Embarrassed with excitement, Ross replied, "Oh Joey, let's be adults here. We don't kiss and tell in front of babies, but yeah it's a good thing you guys kept the windows closed last night." and tried to high five Rachel sitting by his side. But she reverted with "Screaming 'I stopped the plane!' on top of your voice after every time you _felt_ like scoring a touchdown doesn't qualify for a great night, you know", instead.

2.

It was a new beginning for Ross and Rachel too. They just got back together for the nth number of time last night, but this time Rachel missed her flight to Paris for a new job. So it kind of looked serious. But not more than Monica and Chandler having their dreams come true. "Sure it feels like my engagement night again", Monica said to Rachel with a pretty straightforward disapproving look. It's not that Rachel didn't know she and Ross trying to make it work one more time exactly on the day when Monica and Chandler officially adopted the little twins and moving to their new house in the suburbs with lawns and everything, would clearly appear like a well-thought of attempt to steal Monica's infamous _'thunder'_ , but she couldn't have helped it anyway. "It wasn't my fault that Ross had to wait till last night to _profess_ his love", she said to Monica. "And you know very well your engagement night was not my fault. Well, not entirely. But this time, I'm no way trying to ' _steal your thunder'._ I'm actually under a lot of stress, if anything."

You see, when Rachel got down her plane to Paris, she didn't give much thought about what she was going to do back in New York. Her last employer, Ralph Lauren, had already tried to lure her back with great rehiring offers, but she finally decided to go for the Paris job. Of course until Ross tracked her down to the airport and poured his heart out after 8 years, asking her to give them another chance. But now that she is back in the city, she has no job or a place to live. But when Joey asked her to be roommates again, she turned him down.

"That's so sweet of you to say, really. But I think it's time I find a place of my own you know. Monica and Chandler are moving to a new place, Phoebe and Mike are trying for a baby, I think it's time I also move to a bigger place. Plus you have Chick junior and Duck junior living with you now. And I sure don't want my face cream turning into pet treats again."

But it was Ross who had been thinking about living with Rachel all this time. It will be different than the last time when they tried and failed, he thought. This time all his cards are on the table. He confessed his love for her and she loved him back. And may be finally he could see Emma, their daughter, as a full-time Dad now. Last night, after Rachel fell asleep holding his arm, he saw her eyes flickering in a dream and it was then he decided to ask her to marry him. But he knew he couldn't mess it up this time. A man gets only a limited number of second chances in a lifetime and he already got at least 4 so far. So he decided to take things slow for now.

To change the topic, Ross asked about Phoebe. "She is supposed to taking care of a farewell surprise for Monica and Chandler, which Chandler think could be a stripper show for babies", Joey enthusiastically explained.

It was right about then Phoebe came in the coffee house and instead of going over to her friends, she went to Gunther, the cafe manager, and whispered something. Gunther came up to the mike where the five of them and other regulars to the coffee house had seen Phoebe performing on and off for multiple times over the years. He announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, for one more time, I present to you Phoebe Buffay!"

Phoebe sat on the stool with her guitar on the lap and said, "As most of you already know, I no longer play regularly here. But today is a special day for my friends and I love you Gunther for letting me do this. This goes to Monica and Chandler and Ross and Rachel and for the new beginnings they are going to have. Here it goes..."

 _We were ready to bid Bings Goodbye last night_

 _When Ross told us to wait_

 _He ran to stop Rachel's flight and told her to 'screw Paris'_

 _But Rachel went on anyway_

 _But then she changed her mind and got off the plane_

 _To stay here whatever may_

 _Bum ba ba bum bum_

 _Bum ba ba bum bum_

 _Bum bum bum all the way_

 _Congratulations to the Bings and soon to be Gellers!_

3.

"I thought WE - as in me and Mon - were going to have a surprise. But, yeah, _surprise_ indeed!", Chandler said when Phoebe came over to their table after the show.

"It was only about you guys in the beginning...but when I was in the shower this morning, I thought _'hey, we actually have two things to celebrate today'_ and so I came up with my 'Congratulations to the Bings and soon to be Gellers' song right there in the shower", Phoebe said munching on a Blueberry muffin.

"Yeah, it was unbelievable. But we are really, really late now. And I just got a call from the Movers & Packers that somebody forgot to put my 'Ribbons and Wrapping papers' box in the van", Monica said giving Chandler a condemning look that immediately made him come up with, "I really should stop trying to be good at packing, especially when you cross off punching Joey in the bubble wrap from the activity. Because honey, if you hadn't noticed so far, I really suck at excelling in boring stuffs."

But Monica had no time to entertain her husband's sarcastic dodging, so she got up to go to the apartment and get the box, before it's too late. "Wait, we will come too", said Rachel, tagging Phoebe along with her. Three of them left and finally the boys got some time alone.

"So dude, what are you gonna do about Rachel?", asked Joey.

Ross had no immediate answer to that. What was he supposed to say anyway? That he had thought of 10 different ways to propose to Rachel that night but he wasn't sure if any of it would work on her. It's _Rachel_ and it's his last attempt at getting a happily ever after with her. He couldn't afford to mess it up.

"I don't know actually! You guys heard how she is looking for her own place. But I want to be with her so much! I must think of a way to propose to her that she wouldn't be able to say 'no' to", he said while thinking about the possible plans for a OTT proposal.

The girls were having a similar discussion in Monica's old apartment at the same time. Monica, being the self-proclaimed Maid of Honour in Rachel's hypothetical future wedding, told Rachel to ask her father to book The Plaza again, this time for a real event. But Phoebe resonated with Rachel's confusion about moving things too fast.

"Guys, it's not even been a day since I scrapped all my plans of moving to Paris and it's been overwhelming, to say the least. I don't know about marriage yet. Do I want to be with Ross? Sure. But do I see marrying him soon? I don't know", she said to the girls looking cooped up in her thoughts.

"May be you guys should take some time for things to sink in first, you know. It's been a long time since you two were a couple, keeping aside the rebounds of course, and getting married at this point could be a blindfolded jump into a well without figuring out how to survive in one with each other", said Phoebe with such a profound face that made Rachel even more confused.

4.

Once the final box of 'Ribbons and Wrapping papers' was in the trunk of Monica's car and they were done with the Goodbyes, Joey left for an audition in downtown, Phoebe went for a massage appointment, Ross and Rachel went to the coffee house again. This time just two of them. Sitting in the tiny table by the window, Ross took Rachel's hand in his and stroked it delicately long enough for the silence to turn into awkward from romantic.

"I want to see you tonight. Can you meet me at 7 in the Museum?", he finally said.

"OK. But just so you know, you can see me right now too. If there is anything you want to talk about, I'm all ears right now", Rachel replied, knowing in her heart what he might say in the evening.

But Ross insisted on meeting her in the Museum instead and she agreed.

4.

There are times in life when you open a door with all the strength in the world to say no to Cheese Cake because you know your stomach is not made for it. You know you are profoundly lactose intolerant. To the extent that even a harmless Cheese Cake can cause so much bloating in the stomach that you might gasp for breath at night. But you still drool over the Cheese Cake. What else are you supposed to do, anyway?

That night when Rachel came inside the Rose Planetarium and saw Ross standing on the exact same place where they made out the very first time, with white lilies in his hands and 'The way you look tonight' on the sound system, every reason she had built up for taking things slow laid shattered on the ground. Right where Ross had laid rose petals for her. Rachel walked over the petals, drenched in the ethereal blue of the planetarium, to where Ross was waiting for her.

"I don't know what to say Ross...", she said as he took her in his arms and put a finger on her lips.

"I'm not done yet. Look up", Ross whispered in her ear.

She looked up at the dome and saw 'Will you move in with me?' written in stars. As she turned to Ross with surprise, he was already down on his knees.

"I love you Rachel, but I don't want to ask you to marry me right now. Not because I don't want to, because of course I want to, but I don't know if this is what you want too. And I don't want to ignore that part this time. Don't get me wrong here. I have a wedding ring with me right now and I want you to take it with you tonight. Keep it with you until you feel like wearing it for real. Till then, give me a chance to live with you and Emma and let us figure things out little by little. What do you say?"

Rachel looked at the ring in Ross's hands, held back her tears and said, "I told you it would be hard to say no to if you asked liked this."


End file.
